I have worked on a lot of different brands through out my career, from ADHD to Zoster; but it wasn't until recently that I was given the opportunity to work on a disease state I am very familiar with. Not because I had worked on it previously in my career, but because it's something I have struggled with for much of my adult life--infertility.
When one of my agencies began to work on the business, I had mixed feelings on if I ever actually wanted to touch the brand. Infertility is an emotional journey many women (more than we realize) go through and it's one I often find difficult to talk about. But the more I thought about it, the more I knew I wanted to share my unique expertise and volunteer to offer any assistance.
I had the opportunity to work on the brand at one point and write a piece specifically targeting women like me to provide information on infertility options. It was an emotional process for me and one that I was all too familiar with. I began to remember each step I had to take with my doctor and how much time I spent researching different treatments every night. At one point I became so emotional I had to hold back tears--I didn't know how hard it would be to just do my job, the same job I do day after day.
But eventually I began to realize that there was no one out there more qualified than me to write this piece. I knew how these women felt, I experienced it. I knew what they were thinking because I thought the same things and it eventually became one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. Because I got to help someone like me and pass along not only my own knowledge, but valuable resources so that they could get support during their journey.
I think from this point on I am not going to shy away from using my personal experiences as a patient as a tool in how I write on the brands I work on. In fact, once I had the courage to come out and speak about my own struggles, I found there were many more people going through similar experiences than I realized. And maybe we aren't as alone as we think.
So here I am.
A creative.
A pharma copywriter.
A patient.
A PCOS and infertility survivor.